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Monthly Archives: December 2013

Happy New Year’s Eve everybody! Very soon your town will be ringing in 2014 with fireworks and fun. Like the ball in Times Square, some cities slowly lower objects while counting down from ten until the new year. Not all cities drop flashy balls. Some cities drop important symbols of commerce. Others get really creative and drop, well, you’ll just have to scroll down to see them all.

The top 55 most interesting things dropped on New Year’s Eve

55. An Orange

54. A Peach

53. A Cherry blossom ball

52. A Cherry

51. A Strawberry

50. A Pineapple

49. The letter D

48. A White Rose

47. A watermelon

46. A Lighted Duck

45. Grapes

44. A Fleur-du-lis

43. A maple leaf

42. Guitars

41. An Acorn

40. A Pinecone

39. A Conch Shell

38. A Hockey puck

37. A Globe

36. A Sled

35. A Rally/Indy car

34. A Pelican

33. An Anchor

32. A Buzzard

31. A Mushroom

30. A Music note

29. A Walleye

28. A Bermuda Onion

27. A Kettle

26. A sardine

25. A Beer bottle

24. A clay jug

23. A wrench

22. A Cigar

21. A Chocolate Dove bar

20. A Crab

19. A Chocolate kiss

18. A Tennis Shoe

17. A Crayon

16. An Olive

15. A Cheese wedge

14. Pickles

13. A Moon pie

12. Deuce of clubs

11. Ping pong balls

10. Sausages

9. Potato chips

8. A high heel shoe with drag queen

7. Marshmellow Peep

6. Possums

5. A Stuffed muskrat

4. Yellow britches

3. A To go cup

A plastic cup? Really? This is the first year that Savannah will be dropping a to go cup and the design is top secret.

2. A Flea

1. A Real but Dead Carp

Meet Lucky the carp from Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. This fish made it to number one because residents kiss Lucky on the mouth for good luck!

Are you a meat eater but have a vegetarian coming to your holiday party? Don’t panic! If you follow the steps below you will be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to serve a delicious meal for your guest. I have been vegetarian since 2004 and have learned what dinner hosts need to know in order to make me something I love as much as the meat eaters do.

1. Find out what type of vegetarian your guest is.

There are many types of vegetarian and it is important to find out what type your guest is.

2. Find out if your guest has any other dietary restrictions.

Your guest might really hate an ingredient are have a food allergy so it is worth asking your guest if he or she has any other food restrictions. After all, you’d hate to make a special dish for your vegetarian guest only to find out that he or she can’t eat it!

3. Find out if guest is looking for a healthy meal or not.

Some vegetarians are super duper healthy, but not all. When I was trying to trim down I hated being served cheesy pasta. On other occasions, when I had a huge appetite, I was disappointed to be served only steamed veggies.

4. Find a vegetarian dish that meets your requirements.

If you are reading this you must be at least a little tech savvy. That is good because the internet will be your best resource when finding vegetarian recipes.

It might seem like there aren’t very many proteins available to vegetarians, but there are actually quite a few protein sources: beans (legumes and lentils), soy (including tofu), mushrooms, quinoa, meat substitutes. Eggs are also an excellent source of protein, but they are not eaten by vegans.

There are lots of meat substitutes on the market today. You could make a vegetarian meal that mirrors the meat dish. I would ask your guest if he or she likes meat substitutes.

If you are still stuck just ask your guest what he or she wants.

5. Be careful how you prepare your vegetarian food.

The best way to make sure that your dish remains vegetarian is to act as though your guest is allergic to meat. In other words, do not use a meat dish utensil on a vegetarian dish. Similarly, do not cook a vegetarian dish in an uncooked meat pan.

These fun ornaments are made from popsicle sticks! Make santa, painted tree, sled, snowman, and glitter tree ornaments! This project can be made kid friendly by using Elmer’s glue instead of hot glue or spray adhesive.

Place a piece of painters tape on the back of the beard sticks. Cut your plain stick in half and glue the two pieces to the back side of the beard. The tape will help keep the pieces from separating while you are gluing the support pieces in place.

Have you seen these ornament wreaths before? I love them. I saw one the other day and knew I had to make one myself! I used red, green, gold, and silver ornaments in small, medium, and large sizes. You can make yours in whatever combination of colors you want.

Materials

Foam wreath
Hot glue gun and several hot glue sticks
Lots of ornaments in different sizes and colors. I used 16 packages of dollar store ornaments. You may need more or less depending on how big your wreath is.

Begin by removing the top plastic or metal hanger from the ornaments.

Tie ribbon around the foam to hang wreath once finished.

Arrange large ornaments in alternating colors around the inside and outside of the wreath.

Apply a generous amount of hot glue to the ornament and attach to the foam wreath. Continue to glue large ornaments around the inside and outside of the foam.

Arrange large ornaments in alternating colors around the top of the wreath.

Apply glue to the top of the ornament and press into foam. Continue gluing the remaining arranged ornaments.

Arrange and then glue medium sized ornaments in alternating colors into the spaces between the large ornaments.

Arrange and then glue small ornaments in the remaining gaps between ornaments. Stand back and admire your work!